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News
2025-30 mandate renewal and proposed DRI vision for Canada
The Alliance continues to collaboratively advance our 2025-30 mandate renewal and proposed DRI vision for Canada. We have received highly valuable and positive feedback from ISED and our ecosystem partners since submitting our updated proposal to ISED in June. Our transformative vision positions Canada to respond to the immediate and rapidly evolving demands of AI and compute through a scalable, phased approach. We will continue to refine details in consultation with ISED, AI Institutes, and the research ecosystem in the coming weeks.
Deadline for cohort #2 approaching: researchers needed for the Alliance Cloud Connect Pilot
The deadline for cohort #2 of the Alliance’s Alliance Cloud Connect Pilot (ACCP) is coming up. We are seeking researchers to test the ACCP, a new portal providing seamless access to commercial and community cloud. Researchers will be accepted in three cohorts from July to October 2024:
- Cohort #1 - submissions received by July 3, 2024 (now closed)
- Cohort #2 - submissions received between July 3 and September 1, 2024
- Cohort #3 - submissions received between September 1 and October 15, 2024
The call is open to all researchers in Canada who currently use or have a need for digital research infrastructure (DRI) services (community cloud or advanced research computing). Participants will get early access to the ACCP platform services and provide feedback at a critical time in the service development. Researcher feedback is essential for the pilot project’s success! Learn more and apply: Alliance Cloud Connect Pilot
The Alliance joins the Digital Preservation Coalition as a Full Member
We are thrilled to share that we’ve joined the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) as a Full Member, providing new opportunities to advance digital preservation in a collaborative, global context. Digital preservation is an important part of our work, from long-term preservation of research data in the Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR), to the Preservation Expert Group’s work advancing capacity, increasing awareness and fostering a community of practice for research data preservation in Canada. We look forward to working with the DPC and its members to help advance digital preservation for the benefit of researchers in Canada and around the world! Read our announcement to learn more.
New publications on restricted data from the Access Limited Data Discovery Working Group
The Data Discovery and Metadata Expert Group recently published two articles assessing the discoverability and accessibility of datasets in Canadian restricted data sources, as well as restricted access metadata:
- Understanding the challenges associated with finding and accessing restricted data in Canada: a mixed methods study (K.B. Read et al., FACETS, August 2024) https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2023-0102
- Identifying metadata commonalities across restricted health data sources: A mixed methods study exploring how to improve the discovery of and access to restricted datasets (K.B. Read et al., Journal of eScience Librarianship, August 2024) https://doi.org/10.7191/jeslib.907
Launching soon: RAC 2025
Our annual Resource Allocation Competition (RAC) is launching on September 24 and will accept submissions until October 30. The competition documentation will be available in September, so stay tuned and check our website.
Call for new members and co-chair: Discovery and Metadata Expert Group
The Alliance’s Discovery and Metadata Expert Group is seeking applications for new membership and for a co-chair position, both for a 2-year renewable term beginning September 1, 2024. This is an excellent opportunity to help set national-level discovery and metadata priorities and to advocate for and advance data stewardship best practices in Canada. Please submit your application through the expression of interest form. Applications will be reviewed as they are received and will remain open until September 1, 2024.
Call for participation: Lunaris User Community Group
Lunaris is seeking new members for a User Community Group. Anyone who uses or has an interest in Lunaris to discover or facilitate the reuse of research data in Canada is encouraged to participate. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss data sharing and reuse with other professionals, provide feedback on the state of the service, participate in user experience studies and influence the development of Lunaris. If you are interested in participating, please join the Google Group. This is an open-ended call, and the group will continue to accept new members.
Events
Webinar series: Open Educational Resources in Research Data Management
The National Training Expert Group is hosting a webinar series on Canadian open educational resources for research data management. Recordings of previous sessions in this series can be viewed on the Alliance’s YouTube channel. Stay tuned for information about future sessions.
Visit our training calendar for online and in-person training events offered by our advanced research computing regional partners.
Work With Us
If you would like to help us advance and invest in national DRI activities that will allow researchers to achieve scientific breakthrough and research excellence, please apply to our open positions today.
Lead HPC Architect (High Performance Computing)
Become an Alliance Member
The Alliance is accepting applications to join its growing membership of over 100 Canadian post-secondary institutions and research organizations. Become part of a national, bilingual not-for-profit organization accelerating Canada’s research future. We invite you to learn about Alliance membership and its benefits by emailing membership-adhesion@alliancecan.ca and visiting Become a member.